The Homeland Security Department says it is reviewing policies on looking at social media posts to vet would-be immigrants applying for certain visas.
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The U.S. authorities may impose tighter scrutiny of visa-seekers’ social media accounts following revelations in that one of many San Bernardino attackers mentioned violence before she was allowed in to the country.
The FBI uncovered evidence suggesting that Ms. Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, had been radicalized long before the shooting, but had previously said that they had managed to stay under counterterrorism investigators’ radar by not espousing those views online.
The discovery of the postings has exposed an area law enforcement and immigration officials usually don’t investigate and has prompted the Obama administration to review the K-1 process.
Now, the WSJ reports that the “DHS only looks at [social media posts] intermittently and as part of three pilot programs that began in earnest earlier this year”.
The Obama administration has struggled to explain why it does not screen the social media accounts of people trying to enter the USA from countries with a large terrorist presence, and why Malik was approved for a K-1 fiancée visa.
“We believe these checks, focused on possible connections to terrorist activity, should be incorporated into DHS’s vetting process for visa determinations, and that this policy should be implemented as soon as possible”, the letter says.
Other officials familiar with post-shooting investigations into Malik’s background said that Malik posted her pro-jihadist messages under a pseudonym and also activated privacy settings, which meant that any alarming messages would have been hard to find even if visa reviewers had been able to look for them.
“The primary concern was that it would be viewed negatively if it was disclosed publicly and there were concerns that it would be embarrassing”, Cohen said in an interview broadcast on “Good Morning America” today.
Sometimes we post things on social media and forget that we’re not the only ones who can see what we post, or sometimes we think that no one really pays attention.
Before issuing an SAO, ICE agents “may conduct applicant interviews, additional database checks, a physical document review and liaison with local law enforcement officials”, said a 2009 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) paper that described the investigation procedure.
Authorities have said Malik and Farook exchanged messages about jihad and martyrdom online before they were married and while she was living in Pakistan.
“They felt looking at public postings [of foreign US visa applicants]was an invasion of their privacy”, the official told ABC News. The page was under an alias. On Monday, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul referenced the social media controversy and called for a “more robust vetting and screening of all visa applicants”.
Even Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is demanding reform, saying the victims of San Bernardino would be alive if social media screening occurred.
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The House of Representatives is considering a bill that would require a government strategy to curb terrorists’ use of social media, the Journal said.
